Photo



(No Model.)

G. P. STURGBSS. RIGHT AND LEFT KNITTING MAOHINE NEEDLE.

No. 578,428. Patented Mar. 9, 1897.-

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE FREDERICK STURGESS, OF LEICESTER, ENGLAND.

RlGHT-AND-LEFT KNITTING-MACHINE NEEDLE.-

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 578,428, dated March 9,1897. Application filed December 30, 1895. $erial No. 573,848. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE FREDERICK STURGESS, hosiers engineer, asubject of the Queen of England, residing at Overdale, Leicester, in thecounty of Leicester, England, have invented new and useful Improvementsin Right-and-Left Knitting-Machine Needles, of which the following is aspecification.

The object of this invention is to provide a needle that will by virtueof its construction give its own loop a side turn from the knitting-lineand facilitate the linking of one loop around two needles, in order toavoid holes or Inenders in the fabric at the point of incorporation orwithdrawal of a needle.

It consists of aright and left stemmed needle having a knitting-stem onthe right and a linking-stem on the left side of its longitudinal axis,constructed in a manner that the said needle in sliding through the loopwill first turn the loop to a side line and then carry it forward intoposition for linking onto an adjacent needle.

The invention further consists in cutting away the back of the needle toa knife-edge at a point level with the longitudinal line of travel of arib-needle, in order that when a hook collides with a stem the needlesmay be guided off each other sidewise.

The invention also consists of a side bend in the stem forward of theneedle-foot and in thinning some part of the needle-stem between thefoot and the latch, in order that the needles when engaged with eachother will yield sidewise.

The nature, features, and scope of my invention will be fully understoodby the specification.

For the purposes of this specification the needles used for knitting theplain loops are termed cylinder-needles, it being understood that theywill also work in rectangular needle-beds.

The original drawings are on an enlarged scale.

Figures 1 and 2 are views in elevation of a cylinder-needle, showing theknife-edge at 11 to guide the rib-needle off sidewise should a rib andcylinder needle collide. The position of the knife-edge varies slightlyin a right and left needle, owing to the curved View in elevationshowing a horizontal rib-- needle with a loop on its linking-stem and avertical cylinder-needle about to penetrate it in its upward stroke.Fig. 6 is a view in elevation showing the loop, having been penetratedin the upward stroke, linked around two'needles, the said loop beinglarge enough to admit the whole hook of the cylinder-needle in itsupward stroke, as is the case in loose fabric. Fig. 7 is a view inelevation showing a loop on the cross-bar 6 and how, when the loop istoo small to admit the whole of the hook, the needle rises up the sideof the loop between the needle and its loop, as is the case in tightfabric. Fig. 8 is a view in elevation showing how, after the needle hasrisen up the side of the tight loop, the point of the hook penetratesthe loop and links it up in its downward stroke. Figs. 9 and 10 areviews in elevation showing the linking-stem brought forward of the frontline of the hook, as is necessary to accommodate some types of machine.The side stem overlaps the adjacent cylinder-needle and casts its loopover the longitudinal line of travel of the said adjacentcylinder-needle in a manner that the said adjacent cylinderneedle willpenetrate and link up the said loop either in its upward or downwardstroke,

as mentioned. Fig. 9 is a side view, and Fig. 10 is a front view, of theknitted loop linked around two needles, having been penetrated by theadjacent needle in its upward stroke. Figs. 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 arefront elevations showing the rib and cylinder needles in position forknitting (see full lines of rib hooks) and after the hook of therib-needle has received and is receding with the loop. (See hooks indotted lines.) In Fig. 11 the rib-needles shown in Fig. 4 are used. InFig. 12 the rib needle has its foot and shank brought back into linewith the stem 4, as

coarse-gage machines.

I may say in order to clearly show the working of the invention it hasbeen necessary to draw the knitted loops on a very much enlarged scale,for,while the hook in its downward stroke would penetrate and pierceinto a very small loop 011 the linking-stem, it would be impossible todemonstrate in this specification how the loop was penetrated unless theloop is drawn an abnormal size relative to the said knitting-stem.".lhose needles having an arrow are supposed to be moving in thedirection of the arrow. I re-. fer to the right and left stems whenlooking at the latch-face of a needle lying horizontally, with its hookpointing toward me, as seen, in Fig. 4. It is understood that my needlemay be made with the knitting-stem on the left and the linking-stem onthe right.

The longitudinal axis of the needle is represented by the dottedvertical line, as seen in Fig. 11, and the width of the needle refers tothe dimensions between the left outside line and the right outside lineof the needle, looking at Fig. 4. The right and left needle has thefollowing usual parts: latch 1, hook 2, shoulder 3, knitting-stem 4,shank 7, foot 9, and pivot 10; also, the following improved parts:cross-bar 6, linking-stem 5, thinned part 8, and knife-edge 11. Bar 6 isthat part of the stem that crosses the aXis and forms the junction ofthe two stems where the needle-stem deviates from one line to anotherline, and at this junction the width of the needle is greater than thewidth or gage of the knitting-stem 4. Stem 4 is the knittingstem and isthe fore part of the needle. Stein 5 is. the linking-stem and is in therear of stem 4, although the two stems are on lines parallel to eachother and situated on that part of the needle forward of the foot.

The needle is formed either out of steel wire of normal gage by crampingto the required shape (see Figs. 4, 9, 10, 11, 12, 18, and 14) or bycutting out of a steel blank of greater width than the normal gage. (SeeFigs. 15, 16, 1'7, and 18.) The former arefor fine-gage machines, whilethe latter are best suited for coarse-gage machines, where there is roomfor a broad needle trick. By this construction of needle theknitting-stem 4 of one needle rides in the axis-line of aneighboring'needle, and vice versa, and in the longitudinal travel ofthe needle the adjacent needle can slide either in front of or in therear of the cross-bar 6 and pass from right to left of the needle, andvice versa.

WVhen in front of the cross-bar 6, (see Figs. 11 and 12,) the adjacentcylinderneedle would be sliding on the left side of the ribneedle forthe purpose of knitting, and when in the rear of the cross-bar 6 itwould be sliding on the right side of the rib-needle for the purpose oflinking a loop. (See Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 17.)

To merely cut a piece out of the side of the stem of a needle of normalgage will not allow one needle to pass from the right to the left sideof its neighboring or adjacent needle in this manner. The knitting-stemmust be put outside the axis-line after the manner of this invention.

The foot 9 and shank '7 may be of any style of make or take the'forin ofa jack, soldered to the other parts of the needle in the ordinarymanner. In the rib-needle, Figs. 4 and 11, the foot and shank arecontinuations of the left stem 5.

In Figs. 9, 10, 12, and 14 the left stem 5 is again brought back acrossthe axis, bringing the foot and shank into line with the right stem 4 toallow the hook and latch to ride in the same trick of the needle-bed asthe shank and foot as is desirable when applying my needle to some typesof machine. In some of the figures the foot and shank are omitted asunnecessary.

To prevent a rib-hook jamming on the back of a cylinder-needle shouldthey collide, I cut the back of the stem away to a knifeedge 11.prevent-s damage. As a further precaution against damage I thin the stemof the cylinder-needle between the hook 2 and foot 9 at S. This thinningof the needle-stern makes the needles yield sidewise when engaged witheach other. In very small rib-needles where the length of stem will notallow of it this thinning of the stem is omitted.

At every course knitted a loop may be looped around two needles. It willtherefore be seen that a needle may be incorporated or withdrawn, whenrequired, without making menders in the fabric.

WVhile the ordinary length of thrust is given to a needle, ordinaryknittingproceeds on the knitting-stein 4 in the usual manner. Byincreasing the thrust of a needle the linkingstem 5 is brought intorequisition and the loop 12 takes a side turn and slips onto and isthrust forward by the cross-bar 6 or shoulder 3 into the longitudinalline of travel of the adjacent needle, which links up the loop. If theloop is small and fits the needle, it will This guides the rib-needleoff and stop at the first bend of the cross-bar 6 and upward stroke, asseen in Figs. 5 and 6. With all the needles in their respective bedsone-and-one fabric would be produced. To change the pattern to plainfabric, the knitting thrust of the rib set of needles isincreased,causing their loops to take a side turn, thrusting them intoline with the adjacent cylinder-needles,which link them up,as aforesaid.The rib-needles then have their loops thrown off and are withdrawn,plain fabric being then proceeded with until one-and-one pattern isagain required, when the order of things is reversed.

It will be noticed in this case the change from one-and-one to plainpattern reduces the fabric to half the number of loops in width, and thechange from plain pattern to one-andone pattern again increases thewidth. To do this, the needles shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 are used ascylinder-needles, as there is no need for the rib-needles to link up thecylinder-loops, because the one and one commences the article and theholes made by the rib needles commencing to knit are cut through, as thearticles are severed at this point. The two patterns of fabric may,however, have the same width of loops simply by using every otherrib-needle only, withdrawing every other cylinder-needle at thecommencement of the one-and-one fabric and again incorporating them whenthe rib-needles are withdrawn for changing to plain fabric, that is, byreplacing plain needles for ribneedles, and vice versa, as now obtains.In this case right and left needles (see Figs. 11 and 12) are used ascylinder-needles.

In Fig. 12 the rib-needle (dotted lines) is receding with the loop ofthe cylinder-needle in its hook preparatory to the cylinder-needlecasting the said loop.

In my invention it is not necessary to take the loop off one needle totransfer it to another. It will therefore be seen that aneedle maycontinue knitting after it has linked its loop onto an adjacent needle.

I have shown one way of making my inven- 11, substantially as and forthe purposes set 8 and a side bend in the stem forward of theneedle-foot, substantially and for the purposes set forth.

3. A knitting-needle having a beveled part 11 and a reduced part 8,substantially and for the purposes set forth.

4. A knitting-needle having provisions for carrying its loop sidewi'seinto line with the axis of an adjacent needle, substantially and for thepurposes set forth.

5. A knitting-needle having provisions for carrying its loop sidewiseinto line with the axis of an adjacent needle, a beveled partll andreduced part 8, substantially and for the purposes set forth.

6. A knitting-needle having its knittingstem diverted to a side line,forming a linkingstem parallel to but in the rear of the knitting-stem,whereby an adjacent needle may slide in the front of, or at the back ofthe junction of the two stems, substantially and for the purposes setforth.

7. A knitting-needle having a part of the stem for linking and a part ofthe stem for knitting, the knittingpart being of less width,

than the total width of the needle, substantially and for the purposesset forth.

8. A knitting-needle having a right stem and a left stem, connected toeach other, whereby a loop thereon may take a side turn to-theknitting-line of an adjacent needle for the said adjacent needle to linkit up, substantially and for the purposes set forth.

9. A right-andleft knitting -needle, substantially as and for thepurposes set forth.

10. A knitting-needle having a side stem disposed on a line outside theaxis of the needle, substantially and for the purposes set forth.

11. A knitting-needle having a stem outside the axis of the needle, bentacross the axis and continued on another line on the opposite side ofthe axis,.substantiallyand for the purposes'set forth.

Dated this 26th day of November, 1895.

GEORGE FREDERICK STURGESS.

WVitnesses THOMAS Sco'r'r,

A. E. STEVENSON.

